Product Development That Makes a Difference

Our product development team is a dedicated group of creative minds committed to revolutionizing the beauty industry through innovation and ingenuity. With diverse backgrounds in cosmetic science, formulation, research, and design, we have united our expertise to bring forth groundbreaking beauty products that enhance and empower individuals worldwide.   My name is Doug Cooper and I am a co- founder and COO of WONDERSKIN, and together with Veronica Segarra, the Sr. Vice President of Product Development, we head Wonderskin's innovation and product development.

   We have been working together for 20 years developing innovative products for the beauty industry – and for the last 3 years, we have been leading product Development for WONDERSKIN.  The products that we’ve incubated have generated hundreds of millions of dollars across the globe – and more importantly have made a difference in people’s lives.  The secret to creating a successful beauty product is somewhat simple – coming up with disruptive innovation that will solve a problem – quickly and easily.  There is so much clutter in beauty – too many products, too many brands and not enough innovation.  Our goal when developing is to create something that hasn’t been experienced before.

   One of our first endeavors into beauty was in 2000, with Lauren Hutton, considered by many as the original supermodel.  Lauren was the first model to actually get a modeling contract.  Prior to that contract, models were paid by the day.  The contract was with Revlon and lasted for around ten years, until she reached 40, and then they fired her.  At the time, Revlon didn’t feel women were relevant after 40.  Lauren thought her career was over, but she clawed her way back into the modeling business but quickly learned that makeup artists weren’t skilled in making up a 40+ year old woman. She would show up at shoots, sit in the makeup chair, and in around an hour they made her look like a clown.  The colors were too bold, the textures settled into lines and the glitter and mica highlighted her wrinkles.  She understood that for her to continue to find jobs she had to find makeup that worked for her more mature skin.  She searched but nothing existed, so she took out her mortar and pestle and created her own makeup.  Lighter textures, forgiving colors, no mica or glitter.  The result was makeup that was different and made a big difference in her career and her life.  As a result, she was passionate about taking her makeup to the masses.    I loved Lauren’s passion to give women over 40 a new way to do their makeup.  Doug became partners with Lauren, and we launched her namesake brand in 2002.  The brand was a huge success out of the gate and over the course of 8 years, more than 1 million women were introduced to Lauren’s new type of makeup and breakthrough application method.   Women were so appreciative that Lauren paid attention to a segment that the big beauty companies forgot about.  We created a product that was tailored to their needs.  It was different makeup they hadn’t experience before.  Lauren Hutton made a difference in these women’s lives.

   We later worked with Tyra Banks, one of the smartest people we ever worked with.  She was all about disruptive innovation, so we got a long very well.  For Tyra, our team created a new type of mascara.  It was a dual formulation where one side was designed to build lash length and the other side was for volume.  By separating out the formulas, the product was able to uniquely create longer, fuller lashes with just a few strokes of the brush.  People were able to visually see the different formulas as each was a distinct color, sitting side by side in the same vial.  

   Tyra then gave this innovative mascara formula an equally disruptive name, Smack My Fat Lash, inspired by when she went on her talk show in a bikini, after being ridiculed by a magazine about weight gain.  Tyra was all about empowering women from the inside out.  Through beauty tricks but also through setting examples of what real beauty should be – not what you see in the magazines.  

   Having a personality or celebrity behind real product innovation is always helpful, but real innovation doesn’t require that level of support

   Another area of product development is to find underserved categories of beauty and create innovation within those categories.  A great example is when our team explored the body makeup category for Westmore Beauty.  We concluded there were not a lot of options to choose from, and the choices in the market were not that good.  We set out to develop a texture that would apply like a skincare cream, would last for over 24 hours, would help cover all body issues (age spots, spider veins, cellulite, etc.) and provide a natural looking glow to the skin. 

  After a lot of trial and error we finalized Westmore Beauty Body Coverage Perfector which was launched in 2016.  It launched on QVC, sold out and generated over $30,000 per minute in sales.  That was the start of something great as the item has sold over 1 million units and it is still the #1 Top Seller on Amazon in the Body Concealer category.  It has been used in numerous movies and television shows and is in most top makeup artist bags.  Most importantly is has helped people to feel more confident about themselves and their bodies.  Body Coverage Perfector made a difference.

   And the final aspect of product development that is so important is to leave no stone unturned to find new and innovative beauty technology to develop around.  In 2019, we met with a small lab who blew us away with this crazy lip technology.  It started as a shiny blue mask, was activated by a mist and the mask was peeled off, revealing beautiful lip color that lasted all day.  We then worked with the lab over a year to perfect the technology and consumer experience. 

This technology was the backbone of Wonder Blading Lips and created an entire lip new category (and the WONDERSKIN brand).  The product was launched during the pandemic where everyone had to wear masks.  People were struggling with lipstick and lip color as it was transferring onto their masks which was uncomfortable, embarrassing and not a great look.  The Wonder Blading technology allowed amazing lip color with zero transfer – it solved a problem and allowed people to confidently wear lip color.  It made a difference.    We are so honored to work in an industry that can make a difference in people’s lives.  We’re so happy that products that we developed have solved challenges and issues for people so they can be more confident.  We are so pleased to be able to keep doing this for WONDERSKIN and we’re so excited about the new products WONDERSKIN will be introducing that will again disrupt and make a difference.